Live Video: James Mercer of The Shins performs “It’s Only Life”

Port of Morrow, the brand new album by The Shins, is likely to be a big seller this week and for good reason: it’s been about five years since the beloved band put out an album and there’s been heaps of praise for the new songs that have already been released. Two of those — “Simple Song,” the album’s first single, and “September” — we were lucky to feature when The Shins’ James Mercer stopped by the KEXP studio to preview the new album. We kept this one under our hats, but now that the record’s release today, please enjoy your next favorite song on the album, performed acoustically live on KEXP:

James Mercer has been one of my favorite songwriters for a long time, through Broken Bells and all of the old Shins material. The “Simple Song” video is incredible and I’m really looking forward to seeing the band live soon.